Imprimir Republish

Geography

More mining in the Amazon

Illegal small-scale mining in the Kayapó Indigenous Reserve, ParáIbama / Wikimedia Commons

The area occupied by industrial mining in Brazil increased fivefold from 1985 to 2022, growing from approximately 360 square kilometers (km2) to 1,800 km2. Meanwhile, artisanal small-scale mining, mainly for gold, expanded to a much greater extent: multiplying 12-fold from 218 km2 in 1985 to 2,627 km2 in 2022, according to a survey by researchers from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). Between 2019 and 2022, the industrial mining area grew by 4%, while the artisanal small-scale mining area increased by 55%. According to the survey, at least 91% of all artisanal small-scale mining in Brazil takes place in the Amazon, mainly in the Kayapó, Munduruku, and Yanomami Indigenous reserves. The study also found that at least 77% of extraction sites showed explicit signs of illegal activity in 2022. The municipalities of Itaituba (710 km2), Jacareacanga (195 km2), São Felix do Xingu (101 km2), and Ourilândia do Norte (91 km2), all in the state of Pará, account for almost half (41.7%) of the country’s artisanal small-scale mining area. The intensification of artisanal small-scale mining in the Amazon is recent, since 41% of the area (980 km2) only began being exploited within the last five years (Nature Communications, November 13).

Republish